2016 CAMA E-Brief Partner:

 

Marie-Hélène Lajoie, City Manager, Gatineau, QC was elected President of the Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators (CAMA) at the Association’s Annual General Meeting held on May 31, 2016 in Winnipeg, MB.  She most recently served as First Vice-President for the Association as a CAMA Director-at-Large.

Lajoie will lead the 500-member national organization of municipal management professionals for the next year.  She becomes CAMA’s first woman President and will succeed Don MacLellan, outgoing CAMA President, who is General Manager – Community Safety Services, City of Moncton, NB and has served as the CAMA representative for New Brunswick.

“I am extremely excited to carry on the work of the CAMA Board, and its membership, over the next year.  We will continue to implement the many objectives and activities of our new Strategic Plan,” said Ms. Lajoie.

Ms. Lajoie was appointed as the Chief Administrative Officer for the City of Gatineau in November 2013.   She is the first woman to head Gatineau’s administration.  Gatineau is the fourth most populated city in the province of Quebec, with more than 265,500 residents.

She has been a senior manager at Gatineau since the 2002 merger of the City.  During this time, she served as the head of legal services, a position that she also held in the former City of Aylmer; as Deputy Chief Administrative Officer; as Acting Chief Administrative Officer; and, as Deputy Chief Administrative Officer of the Services de proximité (local services).

She is involved in her community and takes part in a number of public activities. She chaired the municipal division of the Centraide Outaouais fundraising campaign for three consecutive years and at a Regional level, since 2010, she has been on the Board of Directors of the Fondation du Centre de santé et de services sociaux de Gatineau. 

Two new members were also elected to the Board: Christy Arseneau, Chief Administrative Officer, Town of Dalhousie, NB will serve as the CAMA Representative for New Brunswick and Jean-Marc (JM) Nadeau, City Manager, City of Portage la Prairie, MB as the CAMA Representative for Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Nunavut.

The 2016-2017 CAMA Board of Directors includes:

 

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Madame Marie-Hélène Lajoie, directrice générale de la Ville de Gatineau au Québec, vient d’être élue présidente de l’Association canadienne des administrateurs municipaux (ACAM) à l’occasion de l’assemblée générale annuelle de l’association qui s’est tenue le 31 mai 2016 à Winnipeg, au Manitoba. Elle occupait récemment le poste de première vice-présidente de l’association en tant qu’administratrice par mandat spécial.

Pour la prochaine année, madame Lajoie dirigera cette organisation nationale qui se fait le porte-parole de 500 professionnels de l’administration municipale. C’est la première fois qu’une femme en devient présidente. Elle succède à monsieur Don MacLellan, président sortant de l’ACAM et directeur général – Services de protection communautaire à la Ville de Moncton, au Nouveau-Brunswick. Il représentait d’ailleurs cette province à l’ACAM.

« Je suis très enthousiaste à l’idée de poursuivre le travail du conseil d’administration de l’ACAM et de ses membres pendant la prochaine année. Nous allons continuer la mise en œuvre des nombreux objectifs du Plan stratégique et des activités qui en découlent » a commenté madame Lajoie.

Madame Lajoie a été nommée à la direction de la Ville de Gatineau en novembre 2013. Elle est la première femme à diriger l’administration de cette ville qui est la quatrième en importance au Québec avec une population de plus de 270 000 habitants.

Madame Lajoie occupe des postes de haute direction depuis la fusion municipale de 2002. Elle a ainsi assuré les fonctions de chef des services juridiques, poste qu’elle avait également occupé dans l’ancienne municipalité d’Aylmer, de directrice générale adjointe, de directrice générale par intérim, en plus d’avoir été adjointe à la direction générale des services de proximité (services locaux).

En plus de son travail de directrice générale, madame Lajoie s’investit grandement dans sa communauté. Par exemple, elle a été présidente de la campagne municipale de souscription de Centraide Outaouais, et ce, pendant trois années consécutives. Depuis 2010, elle participe au conseil d’administration de la Fondation du Centre de santé et de services sociaux de Gatineau qui joue un rôle d’envergure régionale.

Deux nouveaux membres ont aussi été élus au conseil d’administration : Christy Arseneau, directrice des services municipaux, Ville de Dalhousie (N.-B.), qui représentera le Nouveau-Brunswick à l’ACAM, et Jean-Marc (JM) Nadeau, gestionnaire municipal, Ville de Portage la Prairie (Man.), qui représentera le Manitoba, la Saskatchewan et le Nunavut.

Le conseil 2016-2017 de l’ACAM :
•Marie-Hélène Lajoie, présidente, administratrice par mandat spécial, directrice générale de la Ville de Gatineau (Qc)
•Janice Baker, première vice-présidente, représentante de l’Ontario à l’ACAM, directrice générale de la Ville de Mississauga (Ont.)
•Marc Landry, deuxième vice-président, représentant de l’Alberta et des Territoires du Nord-Ouest à l’ACAM, directeur général de la Municipalité de Beaumont (Alb.)
•Jeff Renaud, trésorier, administrateur par mandat spécial, directeur général de la Ville d’Elliot Lake (Ont.)
•Don MacLellan, président sortant, directeur général – Services de protection communautaire, Ville de Moncton (N.-B.)
•Rodney Cumby, représentant de Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador à l’ACAM, directeur municipal de Paradise (T.-N.-L.)
•Louis Coutinho, représentant de la Nouvelle-Écosse et de l’Île-du-Prince-Édouard à l’ACAM, directeur municipal, Ville de Windsor (N.-É.)
•Christy Arseneau, représentante du Nouveau-Brunswick à l’ACAM, directrice des services municipaux, Ville de Dalhousie (N.-B.)
•Jack Benzaquen, représentant du Québec à l’ACAM, directeur général de la Ville de Dollard-Des Ormeaux (Qc)
•Jean-Marc (JM) Nadeau, représentant du Manitoba, de la Saskatchewan et du Nunavut à l’ACAM et directeur municipal de la Ville de Portage la Prairie (Man.)
•Jake Rudolph, représentant de la Colombie-Britannique et du Yukon à l’ACAM et directeur général adjoint de la Ville d’Abbotsford (C.-B.)
 

  

Christy Arseneau, Chief Administrative Officer for the Town of Dalhousie, NB has been elected to the Board of Directors for the Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators (CAMA).  She was elected as the CAMA Representative for New Brunswick during the Association’s Annual General Meeting, held on May 31, 2016 at CAMA’s national conference in Winnipeg, MB.

Arseneau replaces Don MacLellan, General Manager – Community Safety Services for Moncton, NB, who was the New Brunswick representative and is outgoing President of the Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators.

“I am very excited to be the next representative for New Brunswick on the CAMA Board of Directors,” said Ms. Arseneau.  “CAMA has supported me in my growth as CAO, and I’m happy to have the opportunity to contribute in this new capacity.”

“I am pleased to welcome Ms. Arseneau to our Board of Directors,” said Marie-Hélène Lajoie, President of CAMA, CAMA Director-at-Large and City Manager for Gatineau, QC.  "Her experience makes her a welcome addition and I look forward to working with her on issues of importance to municipalities large and small."
    
Ms. Arseneau is the Chief Administrative Officer for the Town of Dalhousie, a position she has held since late 2007.  She joined the Town just two weeks before the local paper mill closed.  Since then, she has overseen a major re-structuring and re-aligning of the Town’s operations to adapt to the post-industrial economy. 

Prior to joining the Town of Dalhousie, she held various policy-oriented positions with Natural Resources Canada on aboriginal and community forestry, climate change, and corporate planning.  She also supported a Federal-Provincial-Territorial Task Force and co-authored papers for the United Nations Forum on Forests.

Ms. Arseneau holds a Master of Forest Conservation (Urban Forestry) from the University of Toronto, a Bachelor of Science in Forest Management from the University of New Brunswick, and National Advanced Certificate in Local Authority Administration Levels I and II from Dalhousie University.

She has also attained Professional Certification Level 2 with the Association of Municipal Administrators of New Brunswick (AMANB), she sits on the AMANB Education Committee, and is part of the ad hoc committee evaluating AMANB’s professional certification program.  She was also a member of the CAMA 2014 Awards Evaluation Committee and is a regular contributor to CAMA’s calls for assistance.

She values the quality of life afforded in Dalhousie and has a passion for sailing, adventure, and living life to its fullest with her husband and 11 year old son.

 

Jean-Marc (JM) Nadeau, City Manager for the City of Portage la Prairie, MB has been elected to the Board of Directors for the Canadian Association of Municipal Administrators (CAMA).  He was elected as the CAMA representative for Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Nunavut during the Association’s Annual General Meeting, held on May 31, 2016 at CAMA’s national conference in Winnipeg, MB.

Nadeau replaces Glen Davies, who retired as the City Manager for the City of Regina, SK in November 2015.

“I feel very fortunate that I have been elected to the Board of Directors and Representative for the Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Nunavut region.  I look forward to meeting as many CAMA members from our region as possible and to represent their voice at the Board of Director’s table.  Moreover, I’m excited to continue working with the CAMA Board of Directors and Staff in this new capacity.” said Mr. Nadeau.

“I am pleased to welcome Mr. Nadeau to our Board of Directors,” said Marie-Hélène Lajoie, President of CAMA, CAMA Director-at-Large and City Manager for Gatineau, QC.  "His experience with the RCMP and as City Manager makes him a welcome addition.  He will bring an interesting perspective to our Association."

Mr. Nadeau, MBA, P. Mgr., has been the City Manager for Portage la Prairie since 2012.  Prior to that, he was with the RCMP for 23 years, holding a wide range of positions from front line investigator to Detachment Commander (Chief of Police) and National Director of Strategic Planning and Performance Management. 

While with the RCMP, he spent eight years in the Arctic, serving in four different isolated northern communities.  In 2011, he volunteered and deployed for 12 months to Afghanistan as a member of Canada’s contribution to the development of the Afghan National Police.   

Mr. Nadeau holds a Bachelor of Commerce, an MBA, a Certificate of Manitoba Municipal Administration (CMMA), and in January 2015, embarked on a Master’s Degree of Law (LL.M.) from Osgoode Hall Law School at York University, which he expects to complete in December of 2016. 

He joined CAMA in 2013 and feels he has learned a great deal about municipal management and leadership through the different topics presented at the CAMA conferences.

He is committed to the advancement of municipal management and has volunteered on two CAMA sub-committees, including the CAMA Awards Selection Committee in 2015 and on the 2016 CAMA Annual Conference organizing committee.  Mr. Nadeau is married and has two teenage daughters. 

At the 2016 CAMA Conference, held in Winnipeg (May 30th to June 1st, 2016), CAMA was pleased to launch a CAO Performance Management and Evaluation Toolkit in recognition of the importance of the relationship between the City Manager, Town Manager, or CAO and Mayor and Council. 

A special thanks to our Chair Ms. Janice Baker; Task Force members Robert Hughes, Patrick Draper, and Scott Barton; our professional writer, Ms. Nancy MacKenzie from Bronze Horse Communications; and our Executive Director, Ms. Jennifer Goodine.

It wouldn’t have been possible to create the Toolkit without the support of our members, or the support of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, and the elected officials who completed our surveys.  What we heard was that a CAO Performance Evaluation Toolkit could improve the effectiveness of CAO Performance Management.  The Project Task Force reviewed input from Canadian municipalities to identify effective sample documents being used across the country today.  From these, the Task Force created templates that will assist you in applying your hard work to agreed-upon strategic, operational, and individual goals.  CAMA’s Toolkit promotes appropriate, positive discussions between the CAO and Mayor and Council that result in better decision-making for the municipality.  You’ll find that CAMA’s recommended performance review process incorporates many practices already used throughout municipalities in Canada; but packaged in an easy-to-use kit.

In addition to our review of sample documents and survey data, a draft of the Toolkit was piloted in March 2016 and reviewed by a number of members and elected officials.  Changes were made based on the feedback received.

There is also a Quick Reference Guide of the Toolkit where you can see, at a glance, the steps for the three-part process which is designed as a “pick and choose” with a process that includes foundational steps as well as optional steps.  You may choose elements to start a process in your organization or pick additional pieces to add to your existing process.  The toolkit can be viewed as a “start to finish how-to guide” or can be used as a quick reference allowing a CAO or Mayor and Council to consider improved practices in any one step in the performance evaluation process.  As well, the toolkit has a number of sample documents and best practices templates that are provided to you in both PDF and word format so that you can tailor them to the needs of your own community.

Where Can You Find the Toolkit?  The toolkit can be found in the Member’s Section of the CAMA website:  http://www.camacam.ca/en/MembersArea.asp for the first year.  This will provide you with an opportunity to use the toolkit for your own annual review and provide any further feedback.  The toolkit will then be updated as part of the second cycle of the pilot project and made available as a public document in June 2017 with a formal communications plan.    Also, the toolkit is currently being translated with the French version being available at the end of June 2016.

This initiative gave us the opportunity to reflect on the challenges the leaders of Canadian municipalities wrestle with on a daily basis.  It gave us an appreciation for the collective wisdom of our membership and for the unique working relationships members have to maintain with elected officials.  It is our hope that this toolkit will assist all of us to achieve our local vision, and create stronger municipalities and communities and will shift Canadian CAO Performance Evaluation practice to a higher level of professionalism.

We look forward to receiving your feedback over the next year as you begin to use the toolkit in your own community.

The CAMA Board of Directors

 

 

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